


Early Days

by Geekygirl24



Series: Guardians Of The Galaxy [1]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Guardians of the Galaxy - All Media Types
Genre: Childhood Trauma, Dysfunctional Family, Family Bonding, Family Drama, M/M, Parent Yondu Udonta, Parent-Child Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-02 14:17:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10946262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geekygirl24/pseuds/Geekygirl24
Summary: Banging on the large metal door, the six-year-old continued to scream and scream and scream…. Until somebody knocked back.“Hello?” Peter whispered, knocking gently on the door.KNOCK. KNOCKBeaming at the reply he received, Peter whooped in joy. As he danced a little, he heard scrambling on the door as a little face appeared at the window, hands gripping tightly to the bars.It was another child.





	1. First Night

**Author's Note:**

> Guardians of the Galaxy is one of my favourite films ever, and I loved the sequel (even if I cried a little bit…. Okay, a lot), however my favourite pairing of Kragdu doesn’t have much of a fic-base… so I decided to expand it.
> 
> This series will mostly revolve around Peter and his OC brother getting raised by the grumpy duo, so the Guardians won’t make an interest until much further on in the series.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it, and please read and review

Six-year-old Peter Quill groaned as he slowly woke up, the surface that he was lying on hard beneath him…. Nothing like the grassy fields he had raced towards after- after….

After.

Suddenly he remembered a spaceship appearing in front of him, and bright lights blinding him, causing him to shoot up into a seated position and look around frantically.

It was so plain.

Everything seemed to be made from metal, and judging by the bars on the door, he was in a prison of some sort.

“Help!” he cried out, racing towards the door, his backpack banging against his back and his headphones shaking around his neck, “Help!”

Banging on the large metal door, the six-year-old continued to scream and scream and scream…. Until somebody knocked back.

“Hello?” Peter whispered, knocking gently on the door.

KNOCK. KNOCK

Beaming at the reply he received, Peter whooped in joy. As he danced a little, he heard scrambling on the door as a little face appeared at the window, hands gripping tightly to the bars.

It was another child.

Skinny, with dirty smudges on his face, the other child had one blue eye and one brown eye with shaggy brown hair hanging around his face.

“Hi!” Peter greeted eagerly, just happy to see another face, “Are you in prison too?”

The child shook his head, tilting his head to the side as Peter frowned. 

“Then why am I in prison?”

This time, the other child shrugged, glancing around.

“Can you get me out?”

Another shrug.

“But-but…” Peter, to his shame, could feel tears brimming in his eyes, “… But I’m not a bad guy!”

There was a tense silence as the other child stared at him, before dropping down from the window and scurrying away.

“Hey!” Peter called out, the tears streaming down his face as he raced to the door, banging on it again as he tried to encourage the other child to come back, “HEY!”

Suddenly, from the right, there was a large bellowing sound as metal door slid open, revealing the child standing there…. An eyeball in his hand.

“Ewwww….” Groaned Peter, not resisting when the child grabbed his arm and tugged him out of the cell, “… did you use that to open the door? Where did you get it?”

As though answering the question, there was another bellow, prompting Peter to glance down the corridor.

Standing at the other end, was a large green…. Thing with several eyes (although one seemed to be missing) and tentacles.

“EWWWWW!” Peter groaned again as he was dragged towards another door at the other end of the corridor, “A gross, disgusting boogie monster!”

As Peter continued to freak out slightly (read as a lot), his new friend held the eyeball up to a red light and another door slid open, enabling them to enter another section. Before the gross monster to follow them, the door slid shut.

Huffing for breath, the young pair beamed at each other as the child tossed the eyeball to Peter.

Peter laughed, throwing the eye into the air and catching it. “That’s so gross…” he chuckled, kneeling and opening his bag, “…. But useful.”

Seeing the confused look on his friend’s face, Peter beamed at him “Just in case we run into any more doors. We’ll be free soon.”

The look of confusion only deepened, soon morphing into alarm when they heard low chuckling within the room and three more strange creatures surrounded them, all brandishing weapons.

“What is this…” Peter whispered, “… one of those sci-fi parties?”

With the tentacle creature banging on the door behind them, and the other three approaching from the front, Peter found himself pulling out his toy blaster in desperation.

As the three creatures stopped in their tracks (and his friend’s eyes widening in amazement), Peter cackled in glee. “That’s right! It’s a blaster, so back up… slowly!”

Suddenly, a tentacle grabbed the blaster and pulled it towards the door (their first pursuer having pulled the doors apart just slightly) although Peter didn’t let go.

“It’s just a toy!” he begged, trying to wrench his blaster out of the firm grip, “Let GO!”

As he screamed his protests, he accidentally pulled the trigger…. Sending flames shooting out of the toy. Yelping, the tentacle creature suddenly released him as Peter tried to aim the flames towards the other three.

Once he took his finger off the trigger, Peter stared in shock at his, what he once thought was, his toy blaster. “I-it’s never done that before!”

Enraged by the attack, the three in the room with them charged at them, bellowing angrily. 

“Alright! I warned you!” Peter aimed the blaster at the oncoming aliens, but clearly his friend thought he was taking too long to pull the trigger, therefore grabbing the blaster for himself and pulling the trigger.

This time, instead of flames, water shot out.

“It’s definitely never done that!”

His friend ignored him, handing him his blaster and dragging him out of that room. As they raced down another corridor, Peter spotted a door that looked as though it had an exit sign on it.

“Finally!” he cheered, “We can get out of here!”

Shaking off his friends hand as the other tried to stop him, Peter pulled the eyeball out of his bag and held it up to the red light, opening the door. “Get off! We need to go- “

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks as the door opened. Stepping in, he saw a large red barrier…. And Earth moving further and further away.

“Home?”

Suddenly the door slammed shut and there was an intense sucking sensation, which dragged Peter along the floor and towards the barrier… which seemed to be opening.

“What did I do. What did I do. What did I do!”

As he was sucked into open space, Peter had the good sense to hold his breath, grasping at his throat. Getting colder and colder and the urge to breath getting stronger and stronger, Peter thought that the whistling that he heard was all in his head.

Before he could dwell too much on it, something seemed to hook his backpack and propel him back towards the ship.

As soon as his feet touched solid ground again, the feeling of nausea building up in his stomach, Peter tried to curl up into a small ball.

“Cold…” he whimpered, “… cold!”

“%”*%((“&*^!”

Startled by the foreign sounds, Peter’s head shot up and he yelped at the sight of a large, blue-skinned man glaring at him.

The blue-skinned man stepped forwards.

“*%%”&*)(&%*$(“

As he got closer, Peter pushed himself backwards, forcing himself against a metal wall to try and get away from the strange being, who was kneeling in front of him and reaching out a hand towards his ear.

“&^$&((*^)-hear me better with this universal translator….” 

Peter stared at the man in shock as his friend sped in, racing towards them. At the other end of the room were three of the creatures that were chasing him and the other kid.

“Don’t mind these boys…” cackled the blue-skinned man, “… they’ve just never eaten Terran before. But yer far too valuable for that!”

“What do you mean valuable Yondu?!” exclaimed a pink-skinned creature, “You been holding out on us?!”

“He wants to keep the bounty to himself!” agreed a shark-like creature.

Peter saw his friend grab Yondu’s (?) coat and grip it tightly as they strode closer to the other aliens. However, he was more concerned with being referred as a bounty. “Bounty?”

Yondu ignored him, “Aw, ye guys got it all wrong! We Ravager’s are like family!”

The door to the room slid open and the tentacle creature entered, “Who said we were Ravager’s?!” he chuckled, flinging out his hand and grabbing Peter, dragging the six-year-old towards him as Peter yelped in alarm.

“Toss him and his brat out the airlock boys!”

Peter struggled as he saw the pink alien charge at his new friend and Yondu. In an attempt to try and defend himself and his…. Son (?), Yondu whistled sharply, sending an arrow into the air. However, before the arrow could go any further, the pink alien slammed Yondu against the wall and the shark-like alien went to grab the other child.

Despite his friend giving the alien a run for his money by ducking and weaving, Peter knew that he had to help, wriggling his gun arm free and aiming it at the tentacle creature holding him. “Eat flames boogie breath!”

Instead of flames, a muck-coloured goo covered the alien’s face, causing him to release Peter in shock. 

“Seriously?” muttered Peter.

As the shark-like creature turned his attention to his goo-covered friend, the other child raced over to Peter, grabbing his arm and pulling him out of the room.

“Our prize is getting away!”

Racing through several corridors and skidding around corners, Peter winced when they ran into a dead end…. His friend looked a little sheepish.

“I thought you knew where you were going?”

Shrug.

“Very helpful!”

Hearing chuckling from behind them, the pair twisted around to see three aliens advancing on them, chuckling menacingly as they backed the two children up against the wall. 

“Leave us alone!” whimpered Peter, “Go away!”

There was a sharp whistling as one by one, the aliens fell to the ground, holes in their foreheads as their eyes clouded over in death.

Whilst his friend didn’t seem fussed about the dead bodies, and how an arrow flew around their heads before returning to Yondu. Despite being saved, Peter tightened his grip on his blaster and aimed it at Yondu (ignoring how his friend protested, pulling at his arm).

“Take me home or I’ll- “

Two sharp whistles interrupted him, as the flying arrow was suddenly centimetres from his face.

“Ye saved my life boyo, and my sons’, so you’ve earned yours…. But don’t think ye can give the orders round ‘ere.”

With Peter keeping his eye on the arrow, Yondu was able to grab his blaster, examining it with a confused look on his face. “Where’d ye get yer hands on this kinda heat pup?”

Feeling his eyes fill with tears, Peter wrapped his arms around himself and frowned. “Mommy gave it to me…. What did you mean by bounty? Are you pirates?”

Yondu seemed to think to himself for a few moments, uncertainty flashing over his face before he turned to Peter and smirked. “I neva said anythin’ ‘bout a bounty…. I just said ye were valuable.”

Peter frowned at this, but before he could say anything, the other child jumped forwards and pulled Peter to his side, beaming at Yondu…. Who just raised his eyebrow.

“Speaking of Momma’s, yer Momma’s looking for ye, brat! Ain’t it yer bath time?”

His friend shook his head frantically as Yondu laughed. 

“Look, either ye go willingly to yer Momma or I drag ye there kicking and screaming! What would ye prefer?”

There was a tense silence, before his friend seemed to come to a decision and raced down the corridor.

“I don’t wanna miss this…” muttered Yondu in glee, “… come on boy. We gotta find ye a room.”

“I’m not going back into the prison?”

“Nah… I’m sure Rhydian will be happy to share for a bit.”

“Rhydian?”

“My kid… the one who’s gonna get his ears boxed if he ain’t careful.”

Not sure how to respond to that, Peter decided to remain quiet

……………………………………………………………………….

As they walked through the corridors, Peter saw all manner of strange aliens, some humanoid…. And some definitely not-so-humaniod.

Eventually, Yondu pulled Peter into a large room, that had a huge bed. Seated on the floor was a skinny humanoid (because Peter didn’t trust anyone on this ship not be an alien), carefully pouring water over his friends hair as the child sat in a small, metal tub.

“Stop wrigglin’…” hissed the humanoid as Rhydian attempted to climb out of the tub, “…. Yer fuckin’ filthy. Have you been hangin’ ‘round the engine rooms again?”

“Course ‘e ‘as… we’ll make a Ravager outta him yet” laughed Yondu, pushing Peter further into the room, “Fancy another brat?”

The humanoid glanced up at this, his eyes widening when he saw Peter. “Not another one!” he exclaimed, “We can’t keep- “

“- Shut up.”

The humanoid stopped in his tracks, scowling at the man as he pushed himself to his feet. “You know I’m right!” he hissed, not even tensing when Yondu stormed forwards, getting in his face, “You can’t keep doing this!”

Yondu opened his mouth to retort, before quickly realising that the two children were staring at them. Clearing his throat, he grabbed Peter and pushed him towards the door, pushing him slightly down the corridor and into the room next door. “Settle in brat. I’ll get another hammock at some point.”

As the door practically slammed shut behind him, Peter glanced around. It looked a lot like his own bedroom back on Earth… of course his room didn’t have a hammock in it.

There were pictures pinned to the wall, with drawing after drawing of space or the couple in the other room. A brightly coloured box was in the corner and a small desk was in the other. Judging by the fabric sticking out of a drawer, that was where Rhydian shoved his clothes.

Before he could investigate any further, the door opened and the skinny humanoid gently pushed Rhydian into the room. “I’ll be back in a bit…” he whispered, ruffling Rhydian’s damp hair, making the longer section stick up like he’d been electrocuted, “… me and Papa need to ‘ave a little chat.”

Rhydian frowned, but nodded, watching as his Dad left the room. Once the door shut, Rhydian span around and beamed at the sight of Peter standing there. Taking the human by the wrist, Rhydian tugged him over to the brightly coloured box and threw it open, pulling out toy spaceships and various colouring items.

“Wow…” whispered Peter as he was handed the toys, “… these are amazing! Does this one actually fly?”

Rhydian nodded eagerly, pulling a remote from out the box and flipping a switch, sending the toy spaceship into the air and al around the room.

“That’s amazing!”

For around ten minutes, the two children took turns making the spaceship fly around the room, ducking a weaving around the hammock and other objects. After ten minutes, the door to the room slid open and both Yondu and the skinny humanoid entered, blankets in his arm.

“Alright brats…” announced Yondu, “… yer gonna be roomies for a while, so get used to it. We got ye some blankets Quill, so don’t whinge or I’ll have the crew eat ye. They ain’t never tasted Terran before.”

Peter trembled slightly at the threat, watching as the other man made up a bed for him in the corner. “R-really?”

In a serious manner, Yondu nodded, his face barely changing as Peter scurried over to his new bed. “Ye beat yer ass I’m serious. Now go to sleep and- “

Yondu stopped in his tracks when he saw Rhydian frowning at him, rolling his eyes as his partner sniggered. “Fine, fine, fine…” he muttered angrily, striding over to the shelves nailed on the walls and pulling a book out from the row, “… but can we make it only one chapter tonight Kraglin?”

The other man, who must have been Kraglin, simply took the book off Yondu and silently gestured for Rhydian and Peter to get settled in bed.

“I’ll read until they’re asleep…” he finally answered as he sat, crossed-legged on the ground, “… just like I usually do.”

Yondu seemed as though he was going to argue, but clearly thought better of it, glaring at Kraglin before storming out of the room. 

“Fine…” the blue man muttered, “… but don’t expect to get back inta our room.”

“Fuck off.”

Without an answer, the door slid shut as Kraglin sighed wearily, smiling in a reassuring manner at his son as the child frowned.

“Don’t worry Rhydian, me and your Papa, are just… having a creative discussion.”

Frown and raised eyebrow.

“Honest! Just a creative discussion!”

Peter chuckled as Rhydian shook his head, but relented and allowed his Dad to tuck him in.

As Kraglin started the story, it became clear that the older man was having trouble…. And yet Peter found himself captivated. Yes, the reading was uneven, and some of the words didn’t sound quite right…. But Kraglin seemed to put his whole soul into it, giving the characters’ individual voices and using his hand to violently gestures certain aspects.

Soothed by the familiarity of having someone read him a story before bedtime, Peter clutched his Walkman to his chest and rested his head against the pillow, his eyes sliding shut as he slowly fell asleep.


	2. Cafeteria Drama

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guardians of the Galaxy is one of my favourite films ever, and I loved the sequel (even if I cried a little bit…. Okay, a lot), however my favourite pairing of Kragdu doesn’t have much of a fic-base… so I decided to expand it.
> 
> This series will mostly revolve around Peter and his OC brother getting raised by the grumpy duo, so the Guardians won’t make an interest until much further on in the series.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it, and please read and review 

//Take my hand Peter… Peter, take my hand! \\\

“MOMMY!”

Peter shot awake, shooting up into a seated position… sending Rhydian flying back in alarm. 

His face flushed, Peter frantically glanced around, still slightly asleep as he tried to remember where he was. Quickly, he realised that he was still on that spaceship…. He’d hoped that everything that happened yesterday was just a dream.

Trying to get his breath back under control, Peter spotted his Walkman and headphones in Rhydian’s hands. 

“Hey!” he cried out, darting forwards in order to grab his most prized possession, “That’s mine!”

In shock, Rhydian quickly released his grip on the Walkman so that Peter could grab it, shuffling back in alarm. At the slight unease on his friend’s face, Peter felt a surge of guilt as he winced.

“Sorry…” he whispered, clutching the Walkman and fiddling with the buttons, “… I-I…. my Mommy gave it to me.”

Keeping his eyes on the Walkman as they filled with tears, Peter heard Rhydian shuffle forwards, gently reaching out and patting Peter on the hand in sympathy.

“I couldn’t take her hand…” Peter sobbed, “… I wanted to! I really wanted to, but I knew she was going to die! I didn’t want to be holding her hand when she died! I couldn’t!”

Rhydian shuffled closer and wrapped an arm around Peter’s shoulders.

“She loved music…” Peter continued, “… so she’d make me these mixtapes with all her favourite songs on them. They’re all I have left of her.”

Tears still streaming down his face, he held the headphones up to Rhydian’s ear, waiting for the other child to place them on his head, before pressing the play button.

“Ooga-chaka Ooga-Ooga  
Ooga-chaka Ooga-Ooga  
Ooga-chaka Ooga-Ooga  
Ooga-chaka Ooga-Ooga

I can't stop this feeling  
Deep inside of me  
Girl, you just don't realize  
What you do to me…”

When the music first started, Rhydian flinched violently, however as the beat continued, Peter watched as his friend began to move from side to side. With a smile on his face, Rhydian bounced slightly as the music continued;

“All the good love when we're all alone  
Keep it up girl  
Yeah, you turn me on

I'm hooked on a feeling”  
I'm high on believing  
That you're in love with me”

As the song came to an end, Peter gently pulled the headphones off and smiled as Rhydian beamed at him.

“It’s called Hooked on a Feeling…” explained Peter, “… Blue Swede, 1973. It’s one of my favourites.”

The smile still on his face, Rhydian nodded in understanding as though saying ‘yeah, I can see why.’

“Did your Mommy give you anything?”

At this simple question, the smile fell from Rhydian’s face and he hunched in on himself, shaking his head.

“… Nothing? But- “

“- Brat never knew his momma.”

Peter startled at the sudden appearance of Yondu in the doorway, the older man having entered when the two children were distracted.

Yondu walked further into the room and continued. “He didn’t have a Momma when we found him, so the bitch probably abandoned him… or sold him into slavery.”

“Slavery?!”

A shrug. “It’s fairly common. Especially with the &&**()&.”

Peter frowned at the hisses and clicks that came out of Yondu’s mouth, which Yondu noticed immediately.

“The name of his species don’t translate well into the common tongue. Don’t worry about it.”

Glancing over at Rhydian, Peter sighed when the other child didn’t even look at him. “So… now you and Kraglin are his parents.”

“… Yeah, I guess. I’m the Poppa and Kraglin’s the Momma.”

Rhydian glared at Yondu after this.

“Yeah, yeah brat. I know he don’t like ta be called that…. Fine, he’s Daddy and I’m Poppa, better?”

Nod.

“Great. The pair of ye had better get changed. Breakfast is in half an hour and I ain’t saving you brats any if yer late.”

Without waiting for either one of them to reply, Yondu stormed back out of the room. As soon as the door slammed shut, Rhydian grabbed a t-shirt from off the floor, removed his pyjama top and put this one on.

“Don’t you want to get a clean one?” Peter asked, grimacing as Rhydian rose his armpit to his nose, sniffed and shook his head. “Well… can I get a clean one?”

Nodding, Rhydian rushed over the drawers and pulled a clean one out, tossing it over to Peter. Once dressed, Rhydian grabbed Peter’s hand (as Peter grabbed his backpack) and pulled him down the corridor, probably heading towards the cafeteria.

“So…” began Peter, “… you’re not human?”

Shake.

“You look human though.”

Shrug.

“… Are there any other humans on board?”

Rhydian shook his head and pointed at Peter.

“Oh… I’m the only one?”

Nod.

“Oh.”

……………………………………

When they entered the large room, Peter felt as though he was going to pass out. There were so many different aliens and creatures sitting at the tables… and all of them were either glaring at them or staring in curiosity.

Rhydian didn’t even flinch, continuing to pull Peter by the hand towards a large, red-skinned humanoid… who had horns.

“Heya Rhydian…” grunted the alien, “… usual?”

Nod.

“Some for yer friend as well?”

Nod.

“Fine.”

Watching in disgust, Peter was handed a plate of yellow mush, with bits of green and pink mixed in. “What is it?” he asked, keeping his voice low as they headed towards a table, “Sick?”

Rhydian rolled his eyes, sticking a spoon into the mixture and shoving it into his mouth.

“I’m not eating it if it’s- UMPH!”

Mid-sentence, Rhydian shoved a spoonful of the yellow substance into Peter’s mouth, the frown on his face turning into a smile when Peter hummed in surprise and swallowed.

“Wow! That’s amazing… what is it?”

Shrug.

“Oh… it isn’t people right?”

Shake of the head.

“Good… just making sure.”

After another couple of bites, the door to the cafeteria slammed open again and Yondu burst in. “Listen up!” he yelled, his strong footsteps echoing throughout the room, “We got ourselves a little problem… someone here, has encouraged a mutiny!

Almost immediately, the aliens began to mutter to each other.

Yondu ignored them, continuing to pace around the room. “Now I like a little mutiny now and again… keeps things exciting! Keeps you boys in line when I get ta kill the mutinous bastards! However…”

He span around dramatically, “… this little group made a terrible mistake. They tried to hurt ma boy!”

At this, everyone’s attention was on Rhydian, and in turn, Peter.

“Now I ain’t gonna have ta explain the rules about my boy again am I?”

Everyone shook their heads.

“Good…. now I know what the plan was. Steal the Terran and sell him off so ye only have to split the money five ways.”

Peter frowned at this, leaning in to whisper in Rhydian’s ear. “I thought there were only four aliens who tried to get us?”

Smirking, Rhydian silently indicated for Peter to be quiet, his finger against his lip as he gestured at Yondu.

“But we don’t steal from each other!” Yondu yelled, causing several of his crew to startle, “So who’s gonna own up to it huh? Who’s gonna be the big man and admit they were wrong?!”

Silence.

“Aw come on… I already killed four of ye little crew, and they ain’t smart enough to think of this by themselves… so which one of you cock-wombles is callin’ the shots?”

Silence.

Behind Yondu, Kraglin had entered the room, arms crossed as he scanned the room.

“Look…” continued Yondu, annoyance creeping into his voice, “… either someone admits to being in charge or knowin’ who’s in charge…. Or I’ll start pickin’ ya bastards off one by one, startin’ with those I like the least!”

Peter glanced around, frowning as the muttering and glaring increased in intensity. With Rhydian watching his parents closely, the two children failed to notice a large alien, with green skin, sidle closer… until he screamed in pain.

The pair span around to see a large alien screaming and writhing in pain, his hand pinned to the table top by a large knife with a jagged blade.

Standing opposite, was Kraglin, his arm still out-stretched from the throw.

Before the alien could wrench the knife out and use it as his own weapon, Yondu whistled and his arrow suddenly appeared inches away from the alien’s forehead.

“Well, well, well….” The Captain chuckled in glee, rubbing his hands together as he watched his prey’s eyes dilate in fear, “… now my first mate don’t go throwin’ that knife around for petty reasons… so what were ye going to do Rubns? Try and grab my kid as leverage?”

Rubns kept his eye on the arrow and simply sneered, choosing not to say anything as Yondu sighed in mock disappointment.

“Rhydian…” he called out, grabbing his son’s attention, “… would you mind checkin’ that yer Daddy’s knife ain’t stuck in the table? Give it a little wriggle.”

In alarm, Peter watched as Rhydian pushed his breakfast away and clambered onto the table, shuffling over to where Rubns hand was pinned. He examined the knife for a bit, before turning to Yondu and nodding.

“No boy…” Yondu chuckled, “… ye gotta give it a little wriggle first. That’s how ye really check.”

Without any hesitation, Rhydian grabbed the knife and wriggled it, twisting it slightly as Rubns yelled in pain.

This time, his nod was firmer.

“Good boy… now why d’ya do it Rubns? Don’t I pay ye enough, ye ungrateful swine?!”

Rubns remained silent… well, apart from his whimpering.

“WELL?!”

Peter jumped at the yell, shuffling off the seat and hiding under the table as Yondu continued to yell. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out another tape.

His Mother had made him a selection of tapes over the six years they lived together, giving him a range of her favourite songs for him to listen to. Popping the 1983 mixtape into the Walkman, he shoved the headphones over his head and pressed play.

“Sweet dreams are made of this  
Who am I to disagree?  
I travel the world  
And the seven seas,  
Everybody's looking for something.

Some of them want to use you  
Some of them want to get used by you  
Some of them want to abuse you  
Some of them want to be abused.”

Feeling a gentle hand on his knee suddenly, Peter startled, his eyes flying open to see Rhydian kneeling opposite.

“I wanna go home…” Peter whispered, “… I don’t be here anymore.”

Tilt of the head.

“Because you just helped hurt someone! You hurt someone!”

Rhydian seemed taken aback by Peter’s outburst, frowning in confusion when the other child pushed himself away from him.

“I don’t wanna be here!”

“What’s all this yelling for?” Yondu growled, his feet appearing next to the table, “Come on brats, get outta there!”

Rhydian was quick to obey, but Peter refused.

“Brat. You’d betta get outta there, or I’ll drag ye out and give ye to Cook! He ain’t neva tried to cook Terran before!”

Still, Peter refused to come out…. Until Yondu bent down and grabbed his leg, pulling him kicking and screaming out from underneath the table.

“No! No! No!” he yelled as Yondu held him upside down by the leg, “Get off me!”

“Yer wish is my command.”

Peter yelped when Yondu let go of him and he struck the floor. Before Yondu could help him up, Peter pushed himself to his feet and jumped away.

“I wanna go home!” he yelled, “Please! Turn back and take me home!”

Crossing his arms, Yondu rolled his eyes. “Quit yer whining. You ain’t going back home and that’s final.”

“No!”

Peter sprinted out of the cafeteria, hoping to find a small ship and possibly fly back to Earth… but the ship was too large, with many winding corridors and dead ends. Eventually, he decided to crawl into a low air duct, shuffling further and further into the ship before settling in one place and shoving his headphones back on.


	3. Here To Stay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guardians of the Galaxy is one of my favourite films ever, and I loved the sequel (even if I cried a little bit…. Okay, a lot), however my favourite pairing of Kragdu doesn’t have much of a fic-base… so I decided to expand it.
> 
> This series will mostly revolve around Peter and his OC brother getting raised by the grumpy duo, so the Guardians won’t make an interest until much further on in the series.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it, and please read and review 

“Kid… Kid!”

Peter’s eyes flew open when someone removed one headphone away from his ear. Lying on his front to the side of him, was Kraglin.

The ducts were relatively small, but for someone as skinny as Kraglin, it was probably very easy for him to squeeze through.

“Ya do realize that you’ve been here all day, right?”

Glancing around, Peter frowned. “Oh… really?”

“Yeah, really. You’d better get outta there… the night crew tend to come in and clean them and they’ll think yer some kinda insect.”

“I’m not a bug!”

“Ya sure? Yer as small as one.”

Peter scowled at this, twisting away from Kraglin as the older man rolled his eyes. “Come on brat, it’s bedtime.”

“I wanna go home!”

“Listen… Terra is miles away. There ain’t no point in you goin’ home.”

“I don’t mind when I get there, I just wanna go home!”

Kraglin sighed, “It’s… it’s not that simple.”

“Why not? Is it because of the bounty?”

“… Who told- Never mind. C’mon. It’s fuckin’ freezin’ in ‘ere.”

There was silence for a few moments, before Peter shook his head. “I don’t wanna share a room with Rhydian.”

“What?”

“He hurt that man….”

Kraglin sighed deeply at this. “D’ya know why he did that? ‘Cause he had ta.”

Shaking his head again, Peter frowned. “Momma said you’re not meant to hurt other people… it’s not nice.”

“That was on Terra. Here, if Rhydian doesn’t show those men that he is willing to hurt them, they’ll think it’s easy to use him against the Captain.”

“… So, he has to be mean to show that he could hurt them without Yondu telling him to?”

“Yeah!”

Peter thought to himself for a few moments, before shaking his head. “I still don’t like it.”

“You don’t gotta like it kid… give it a few more days, and you’ll see why Rhydian does it.”

Not reassured by the statement, Peter shoved his headphones back over his ears as Kraglin gently pulled him closer and shuffled them both out of the air vents.

…………………………………………….

Peter refused to speak as Kraglin carried him back to his and Rhydian’s shared room, only taking off his headphones when they arrived… and only because Kraglin tugged on them.

“I need you to watch this…” the older man muttered as Peter placed the headphones around his neck again, “… please?”

Choosing not to say anything, Peter merely peeked into the room. Lying in his hammock, Rhydian looked upset as Yondu pulled the blanket up to the boy’s shoulders.

“He don’t hate ye kid…” Yondu sighed, “… He’s just whining about not bein’ able to go back to Terra.”

Rhydian reached over and poked his Papa in the chest, a small smile on his face as Yondu chuckled. “Yeah, the whole ‘I’m gonna eat ya’ thing might not be helpin’… but it’s funny.”

An exasperated roll of the eyes and a shake of the head.

“Well it’s funny to me.”

This time, Rhydian didn’t do anything apart from burying himself into his blankets. Yondu sighed at this, “Stop mopin’. Yer Daddy’s gonna grab ‘im and bring him back.”

Nothing.

Another sigh from Yondu. “Why don’t you get some sleep tonight…. I promise I’ll stay here until ye nod off.”

Rhydian nodded, keeping his eyes on his Papa as the blue-skinned alien started to whistle, humming a soothing tune

“Ntoni umzuzwana uhlale njani ngonaphakade? 

Njani ibali soze afe? 

Kuyinto uthando kufuneka abambelele… Ungaze lula, kodwa sizama 

Maxa wambi ulonwabo lwethu ndifungeleni 

Ngandlel 'ithile, ixesha nendawo wema ngxi

Ukuthanda ubomi kwi ngaphakathi ezintliziyweni zethu kwaye njalo kuyoba.”

As Yondu’s soft, barely heard, lullaby came to an end, Peter twisted in Kraglin’s arms and frowned up at him. “I thought I had a translator?”

“You do… a temporary one anyway.”

“So why couldn’t I understand him?”

Kraglin smirked, “Centaurians have two languages that they speak. The main one, which can be translated and then the one which is kept secret between all of them. No one’s really heard the second one, so no-one’s translated it.”

“…There was a lot of clicks and whistles.”

“That’s they speak… clicks and whistles with occasional spoken word thrown in there.”

Before Peter could say anything else, Kraglin entered the room and gently placed him on his bed. “Found him…” Kraglin whispered to Yondu, aware that Rhydian was seconds away from sleep, “… is Rhydian alright.”

“Brat’s fine….” Yondu glanced at Peter, before turning away, “… put in the coordinates for the nearest market planet. His socks all have holes in… again.”

“Didn’t we just buy him some?”

“Brat’s growin’ like a weed.”

Without another glance at Peter, the pair left the room and shut the door behind them. As Peter huddled into the bed, he listened to Rhydian’s breathing even out.

“I’m sorry…” he whispered, “… But I just wanna go home.”

……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Tap. Tap.

Peter stirred at the sharp pain on the centre of his forehead.

Tap. Tap.

“G’way…” he muttered, swatting blindly, “… five more minutes Momma.”

Tap… TAP.

“HEY!”

Peter shot up, his eyes shooting open as he saw Rhydian sitting next to his bed… again. This time, however, he didn’t look as happy.

Slowly pushing himself into a seated position, Peter sighed when Rhydian continued to frown at him. “I’m sorry…” he muttered, “…. About yesterday. I didn’t mean to…. Yell at you. Kraglin told me you had to do it.”

Nod.

“You have to scare them… so that they don’t hurt you when Yondu isn’t around.”

Nod.

“… Sorry.”

The frown stayed on Rhydian’s face for a few more seconds, before he shrugged and smirked at Peter, getting to his feet and throwing a clean t-shirt at him.

Once Peter was dressed, the pair ran out of the room and, just as they did yesterday, headed towards the cafeteria. 

However, today was different.

Before they reached the large room, both their collars were grabbed from behind and they were dragged backwards.

“Not today brats…” Yondu muttered, releasing his grip and forcing them to turn around, “… we’re going planet-side today. We’ll grab ye somethin’ then.”

Rhydian jumped up and down in excitement, following Yondu as he led them towards the hanger bay. As they entered the bay, Peter couldn’t help but gaze around in amazement…. It was just like every sci-fi show he’d ever seen.

“Wow…” he whispered, only moving because of Rhydian dragging him forwards.

Several aliens were clambering into their own ships, probably all planning to go down to the planet as well, however, their ships weren’t as grand as the one Yondu was leading them to.

“I don’t wanna hear no whinin’, no whingin’ and no arguin’. I hear any of that, and I’ll leave ye there, capeesh?”

Both Rhydian and Peter nodded eagerly, climbing into the ship and buckling into the passenger seats. As the ship lifted off the ground and headed out into open space, Peter found himself automatically unbuckling the seatbelt and heading towards the window.

“Wow….” He whispered again, staring at all the stars. As they got closer to the planet, Peter found himself speechless, “… WOW!”

Rhydian nodded eagerly from his seat as he watched Peter get more and more excited with each new sight… the pair didn’t notice how Yondu turned to look at the pair of them, a soft smile on his face.

………………………………….

As the ship touched down on the docks of the planet, Yondu quickly grabbed the back of the children’s shirts to stop them from just running off.

“Watch yerselves brats…” he muttered, making sure they would stay by his side before letting them go, “… I gotta pay the dock master first.”

After handing over some coins in return for anonymity (only made cheaper by the added bonus that the dock master was a woman and the brats were cute), Yondu pulled the pair towards the marketplace. 

“Right, I’ve got shit to do, so you brats can have some fun… don’t speak to strangers, and if a stranger grabs you, go for the throat.”

Peter was startled by this, mutely watching as Rhydian nodded eagerly and held out his hand.

“What d’ya what bra- Oh…. Money.” Snarling to himself, Yondu reached into his pocket, and pulled out some more coins. “Fer God’s sake brat, don’t spend it all.”

With that, he turned away and Rhydian tugged Peter in the opposite direction, weaving in between legs as the children disappeared into the crowd.

“Where are we going?!” laughed Peter as he tried to both keep up and take in all the new sights, “Rhydian! Where are we going?”

Rhydian didn’t answer until they reached a stall led by a large, winged lady, who was stirring something with a spoon.

“Watcha boys….” She greeted, beaming at the two children, “… What’ll be?”

Letting Rhydian take the lead, Peter watched as he pointed at the bowl that the woman was stirring and then held up two fingers.

“Sure thing honey.”

It only took a couple of minutes before she was handing them two green concoctions on sticks. Rhydian handed some coins over, before tugging Peter away.

“What is it.”

Roll of the eyes.

“… Just try it?”

Nod.

Peter took a deep breath, before licking the strange food…. And then beaming. “It’s really sweet!”

Eager nods.

“It’s just like candyfloss!”

Head tilt to the side.

“It’s something on Earth, a pink and fluffy sweet.”

Understanding nod.

Finding a stone wall, the pair quickly scoffed down their sugary treats. Once finished, Rhydian gestured for Peter to follow him, leaping down from the wall and racing in between legs and around market stalls.... stealing stuff as he went.

When they came to a less populated area, Peter shook his head. “You can’t do that!”

Tilt of the head.

“Because it’s wrong! Stealing is wrong!”

Shrug.

“… What did you get?”

Rhydian grinned, pulling out a selection of sweets from his pockets, giving a handful to Peter as the other six-year-old beamed in delight.

“Alright… they’re small, maybe no-one will notice…. Can you steal anything else?”

Beaming grin and a nod.

……………………………………………….

Yondu groaned when he saw the two brats racing towards him, their pockets bulging suspiciously (not that he could say anything, as he definitely had extra items in his own pockets). “No!” he held up his hand in a silent order for the two to stop…. Before they’d even started, “I don’t want to know.”

As he heard someone call out thief in the distance, Yondu rolled his eyes and grabbed the pair by their arms and dragged them back towards the docks. “Let’s get out of ‘ere before you brats get us in trouble.”

Ignoring how the pair giggled to themselves about what they had got up to, Yondu found himself feeling a little proud of the pair…. If they managed to get to the ship without getting caught, then those brats would be successful thieves.

At the age of six.

Kids could be useful for some jobs, maybe if he sent Peter and Rhydian- No.

Startled at his own thought processes, Yondu shook his head and snarled. Quill was bounty and that was that…. No matter how useful he was.

……………………………………………………………………………..

“I notice Peter’s got quite a few new toys.” Stated Kraglin as he stood in the doorway of his and Yondu’s shared room, “I thought you were only going to get socks for Rhydian.”

“The brat got ’em himself…. Stole them from right under the owner’s nose.”

“Clever… he’s only six.”

“Pah! Rhydian probably did most of the work!”

“You don’t know that.”

There was silence for a few moments, before Yondu twisted around to suspiciously glare at his first mate. “Yer’ ve grown fond of him…” he stated in realisation, “… ye wanna keep him!”

“…. Can you blame me? We’ve done this so many times and every time Rhydian gets his hopes up…. He and Peter have really bonded.”

“Why should I care? Think of the units!”

“Think of everyone else we’ve delivered to that bastard… did you ever see any of them again, because I didn’t!”

“That’s sentimentality, and I don’t do sentimentality. Ain’t I taught you nothin’ boy?!”

Silence.

Without saying anything more, Yondu stormed away and headed for the bridge.

He had something to think about.

……………………………………………………………………….

Kraglin was right…. Not that Yondu would ever admit it to the man’s face.

He couldn’t deliver Peter… he just couldn’t.

“Dammit…” he muttered under his breath, “… fuckin’ dammit!”

Everyone else who was on the bridge, wisely chose not to comment as Yondu slapped his hands on the control panel and stormed out of the room, muttering to himself in clear annoyance as he complained about “that bloody, soft-hearted bastard.”

……………………………………………………………………………….

“Fine!” exclaimed Yondu as he burst into Rhydian’s room, where Kraglin was reading the two children a bedtime story, “We’ll keep him! Are ye happy now?!”

He continued to scowl as Kraglin smiled at him, pushing himself to his feet and kissed him on the cheek. “Yeah, I’m happy.”

Noticing that the children were frowning in confusion, Kraglin grinned. “Peter, how would you like to be a Ravager?”

As Peter nodded eagerly, Rhydian leapt out of his hammock and raced towards his parents. 

“Peter’s gonna stay!” he yelled, excitement and joy clear in his voice, “Really?!”

“Really, really!”

“YAY!”

Peter watched Rhydian in confusion, frowning as his friend continued to jump up and down in glee. “I-I thought he couldn’t speak?”

“Oh, he can speak boy…” chuckled Yondu, “… but only when he pissed off, pissin’ himself in fear, high on life or about to end it all due to sadness. Fucked up childhood and all.”

Before Peter could say anything, Rhydian came rushing up to him and grabbed him. “We’re gonna be brothers Petey! We’re going to be brothers!”

Rhydian’s enthusiasm was contagious, causing Peter to also get excited. Together, they began to race around the room, laughing and whooping in glee.

“Are ye happy now?” sighed Yondu, “They’re all wound up!”

“Yeah…. Well good luck gettin’ the to bed.”

Without letting Yondu answer, Kraglin strode out of the room, leaving Yondu behind…. Along with two hyper children.

“You bitch….”


End file.
